The sorceress paused as she passed through the mirrored hallway. Strange, she thought, glancing at her reflection. I've never noticed this before. On the wall behind her was a polished silver plate. With the mirror in front of her reflecting not only her image but also the one in the plate, the illusion of several versions of herself standing there was created.

As she watched, one of those images changed. Instead of her normal long black hair, this version had short red hair framing her heart shaped face. The clear violet eyes were the same and the silver shadowsilk gown still flowed over the same curves.

Desana blinked her eyes several times to clear the vision from her head. A flash of light reflecting from the mirror caused her to shut her eyes tightly.

Desana opened her eyes to find herself surrounded by a white wall covered with black runes. A loud tapping, like a thousand woodpeckers hitting the wall at the exact same time, filled her ears. The loudness of the tapping assaulted her senses and she fell to the ground. As the sound continued, she felt pressure building in her head, until it threatened to burst. A scream tore from her throat as she found herself sitting up in her bed.

"A dream? It was all just a dream?" she asked herself. Getting up she walked to her mirror to brush her hair, and stopped. The image that faced her had short red hair.